this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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It might be availability bias or similar, but there are a lot of stories about people shooting people entering their house or property that should not have been shot.
There was one about a kid who went to the wrong house https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ralph-yarl-shooting-victim-highly-intelligent-gentle-soul-former-teach-rcna80024
There was a story about delivery drivers who got shot at recently. https://www.npr.org/2023/04/23/1171507677/south-florida-shot-at-instacart-delivery-driver-wrong-address. That's actually a good example of the shooter unnecessarily escalating. He could've just... Not shot at them. They were trying to leave.
There's the related story of https://www.npr.org/2023/04/18/1170593395/kaylin-gillis-new-york-driveway-kevin-monahan that page links
None of these are okay.
It's possible there's a bunch of unreported instances of people successfully defending themselves with guns. Scenarios like that where the person on the property really was there with deadly intentions. But I kind of feel like no. I'm pretty sure the scenario of "someone breaks into your house to murder you!" is actually extremely rare. (or if it does happen, it's the police)
We should also take a moment to think on the chilling effect accepting this level of violence has. I don't want this to be a world where I have to worry about being shot because some idiot feared for his life or property.
I was visiting a friend in upstate New York and I was legit worried walking from the train to their place. I wasn't sure which house was my friend's. I called them and had them come out and greet me because I didn't want to risk going to a neighbor's house by accident, and have that neighbor shoot me because they thought I was a burglar. And I'm a white guy.
I would agree those are unreasonable uses of force. And bad raids don't end with LEO getting shot nearly enough.
The comment I was replying to mentioned someone stealing a TV through a window if I'm not mistaken, and that's what I'm referring to. But if you decide to force your way into someone's house, it's not on them to interrogate you to determine your intent. I have respect for people that would risk themselves in a situation they didn't create, but I don't think it's reasonable to force everyone to behave as tho the guy that just broke your window or forced his way into your house is just there for a cup of tea.